PORTLAND, OREGON – 1971 – DRIVE CAREFULLY

Portland, Oregon, city of dreams, or the end of the line.

The end of the western line may be Astoria, but let’s stick to Portland.

This blog post shows approaches to town on different roads.

 

Well it’s all right, riding around in the breeze
Well it’s all right, if you live the life you please
Well it’s all right, doing the best you can
Well it’s all right, as long as you lend a hand

 

From the south.

 

You can sit around and wait for the phone to ring 
Waiting for someone to tell you everything
Sit around and wonder what tomorrow will bring 
Maybe a diamond ring

 

On the west side of the Willamette River.

 

Old Portland remembers 1971 like it was yesterday.

The titans of tomorrow were young men on the rise ready to push the city to new horizons.

Big money and pubic will laid the foundation.

Powerful men in their fifties and sixties flexed their civic muscles for their friends in New York to show what could be done.

A timeline of pictures in most cities show the changes from paths to roads to freeways bypassing the whole thing to go somewhere else.

Old Portland turned the page from what it was to what it will be in these historical shots.

 

Fifteen blocks west of Front on the 405.

 

Well it’s all right, even when push comes to shove
Well it’s all right, if you got someone to love
Well it’s all right, everything’ll work out fine
Well it’s all right, we’re going to the end of the line

 

The big picture of Portland, Oregon, 1971. (Thanks B & P)

 

PS: 

At some point in life you find where you’d like to stay as long as possible.

Not forever, just long enough.

Those who have found Portland are in good company.

 

PSS:

Getting stranded someplace is different than living in a chosen area.

In mega-cities you’ll run into people who are, for lack of better words, just off.

They are dislocated, disjointed, lost, and it’s all from being stranded.

And pride. They don’t live in their town, their state, or maybe their native country, and have had to adjust.

They’ve lived in one place long enough to call it a life, but remain haunted by the notion of being a stranger, of what could have been.

Well? Would it have been any better?

Like Portland, we all have a debarkation line for the future.

What’s yours?